Ahhh I understand your situation Lizycritter.. What I do is I take little mini work breaks where I go and walk or do bicycle for few minutes in between work. I work at the hospital so it's nice to have a place to work out for few minutes. I try to stay active and eat healthy but the weight is just taking it's sweet time to come off.

belive it or not i started trying to loose weight in January but it never happened.. and I kept taking it easy.. I am not finally trying to get active and start a healthy routine.. hopefully this time I can achieve my goal of losing atleast 10 pounds

Lol...I kind of giggled when you said you were trying to become addicted to running/elliptical. I'm going through that same struggle right now! I have an elliptical machine in the spare bedroom, and the only time I am motivated to use it are at completely inappropriate times (ie, at 10pm when I'm laying in bed and have to get up at 5:30am; or at 11am when I'm sitting at work and can't do anything at all!). Then when I am at home, I have no desire whatsoever to do anything. *sigh* I would probably do better at this workout thing if somebody would handcuff me to the darn machine!

I'm capable of addiction, I just know I am, but getting addicted to working out hasn't happened in years. Now handcuffs, that's shear genius!!! Why didn't I think of that?

I've been getting up early to get my workout in. I usually manage to get 30-60 minutes in, but it seems like I always get started late, so by the time I get done the kids are up and making the usual demands. So the last half of the workout I'm huffing and puffing, shouting orders at the kids and probably driving my blood pressure sky high because I'm not breathing the right way or something. And the later I get started the worse my day starts I swear, because I end up just flat out behind schedule and scrambling - which doesn't feel the least bit "healthy" if you know what I mean. I can say now that the last time I missed my workout 2 days running, by the third day I hurt all over. So slowly but surely my body is getting used to it, and hopefully soon I won't be able to consider going without it at all. Fingers crossed.

very interesting discussion, i wish i could get addicted to working out too, wouldn't that be nice for a change? it's always harder to get addicted to good stuff! but carbs? sweets? lazziness? man, i'm all for it!!!!!
well, this weight loss thing has not worked so well for me, so i better do something about it! i only dropped 1 lb last week after watching carefully what i eat and staying away from my beloved carbs!
so i guess i better get my backside off the sofa and start working out sometimes! you ladies think Tony Little's Gazelle is any good?

Almeeker, may I ask..what do you eat? Lol I think I need to cut down on carbs...but everything I ever eat is filled with carbs. In the morning, cereal, lunch a sandwich, snack some whole grain chips, when I get home, yogurt and an orange or a banana or something, dinner some healthy frozen dinner or whatever. I don't know what to eat besides carbs :/ So yeah what do you eat so I can join in too lol.

__________________Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.

I usually do boiled eggs (2) or an amlette with veggies for breakfast.. When i want a change I do peanut butter and a little bit of honey on wheat bread. For lunch I usually do vegetable salad or chicken (baked).. My dinner is usually pretty big and this is where I need to make a change I think.. Any suggestions for healthier dinner meals would be great. i work out about half hour 5 days a week.. usually brisk walk or bicycle.

Almeeker, may I ask..what do you eat? Lol I think I need to cut down on carbs...but everything I ever eat is filled with carbs. In the morning, cereal, lunch a sandwich, snack some whole grain chips, when I get home, yogurt and an orange or a banana or something, dinner some healthy frozen dinner or whatever. I don't know what to eat besides carbs :/ So yeah what do you eat so I can join in too lol.

Well I eat 1-2 servings of grain based carbs everyday, always whole grain, low-cal and low fat. Some of my faves are whole grain slimwiches (90 cal), whole grain English muffins (110 cal), 2 rye crisp crackers (60 cal), whole-grain low-fat bread (35 cal/slice), whole grain tortillas (60 cal), whole grain crackers (90 cal), cereal (usually Special K or Kashi), rice cakes (60 cal), whole wheat pasta etc etc. I also eat 3 servings of fresh fruit every day, but I try to keep it mixed up, one banana, one tree fruit (apples oranges grapefruit etc), and one serving of berries (blueberries, strawberries, grapes etc). I eat as many veggies as I want, usually 6-10 servings, but I try and limit ones that are high in carbs to once a week or less, ie corn, peas, beans. So, I eat lots of green veggies, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, celery, cucumbers, etc. Then I try and balance out my carbs with lean proteins, meanwhile not going over my calorie limit. It's tricky, there has been more than one day where I had to eat a couple of cans of tuna for snack or dinner, because my carb intake was skirting 60%. But I'm getting better at it. I find that if I start the day with a big boost of protein, it's easier to stay on track. Some of my fave proteins are: eggs, tuna, protein powder (I put a little chocolate protein powder in my coffee every morning), Greek yogurt, nuts, fat free cottage cheese, bacon, chicken, fish, reduced fat cheese, lean deli meats, beef - just to name a few.

So maybe what you need to do is swap out your morning cereal for eggs, or your lunch sandwich with a salad, and change the snack over to almonds or Greek yogurt. You don't have to get rid of all three everyday, just swap out one or two items and see if that helps. The carbs you've listed are healthy, without question. When I first started dieting, I'm sure that I had days where I ate all those exact same things in a given day. But I found that I lose faster when I keep my proteins up, which doesn't come naturally to me. It makes sense if you think about it. Proteins help build and rebuild muscle, right? So if you give your muscles the right food they are bigger and better, more lean muscle means your body burns fat and calories more efficiently, so consequently you'll be leaner.

very detailed list, Thank you Almeeker!
another question for you, it was actually wanabefitgirl's question that has got my attention too, how did you decide on your weight goal? i'm shorter than you and i have 125lb as my weight goal, now i'm thinking maybe i need to adjust the goal?

__________________Never give up on a dream just because of the length of time it will take to achieve it. The time will pass anyway.

Myrasalman, The only thing that worked for me was the bootcamp style workout and tracking my food here. I found I was putting way too many calories into me. I didn't lose much weight for the first while, but I trimmed down several inches. I put on muscle, which is now helping burn the fat. I reshaped my body and I look almost as good as I did before kids. I had 17 lb to lose, and I am almost there (about 0.5 lb to go...) after 4 months.

The only way I can get in my workouts is by going to the gym at work during lunch and doing the bootcamp. I also run when I can get out for 30 minutes without my 2 young kids. If I have to take them along, my 20 minute run takes 90 minutes...

very detailed list, Thank you Almeeker!
another question for you, it was actually wanabefitgirl's question that has got my attention too, how did you decide on your weight goal? i'm shorter than you and i have 125lb as my weight goal, now i'm thinking maybe i need to adjust the goal?

I'm 5'-1 1/2", but I usually round up to 5'-2. I set my goal weight at 120 after quite a bit of research, both on-line and through the medical community. My orthopedic surgeon classified my skeleton as "delicate", which would be sort of funny if you knew me (I've been called a lot of things but "delicate" isn't one of them). But alas it's true, I'm a fat girl that cannot blame her weight on being "big boned". I have tiny feet (size 6.5), tiny hands (wedding ring is size 5), tiny teeth (the dentist goes on and on, it's sort of annoying), the only thing average on me is the diameter of my skull, which my mother will attest to. The only large things on me are my jugs, so I gave myself an extra 5 pounds. Pretty much every calculation I found (on-line or otherwise) said I should weigh between 100 and 135 pounds. My regular doc and my knee doc both recommended that I weigh 115 (smack dab in the middle of the range), given my frame, life style and the condition of my knees and back. My knees are pre-arthritic, one of them has been reassembled more than once, I also have degenerative disc disease.

so please tell me if my diet plan sounds right..
I usually have 2 eggs in the morning or Ill have 2 whole wheat toast with peanut butter with milk.
For snack i do banana or apple.
For lunch (salad) with cheese and fat free ranch, tuna wrap.
dinner- chicken with side of veggies usually.

The weight just doesnt seem to wanna come off so i am not sure what to do